iPods Episode #7: iQuiz

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #7: iQuiz is online and it's all about iQuiz.

iQuiz is a game for iPods with fun game show sounds and slick graphics. iQuiz comes with sample quizzes, but the real power comes from teachers and students making their own quizzes. iQuizMaker is software for Mac and Windows computers that makes it easy to create quizzes and sync them to iPods. iQuizShare.com is a site for downloading and sharing quizzes. Like iQuizShare, iQuizr.com is a place for downloading and sharing quizzes with the added feature of being able to create quizzes online.

iQuiz comes pre-installed on all iPod classics and iPod nanos that play video. It's available for older full-sized iPods that can play video for 99 cents from the iTunes Store.

Listen to all 13 minutes of Episode #7 for how-to and a few valuable tips. Also, check out learninginhand's Quizzes page.

iPods Episode #6: Notes

Another episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast has been published. Episode #6: Notes is all about viewing text on iPods.

When you think of iPods, you think of those white earbuds. While iPods are designed for audio (and some for video, too), iPods with screens can also display text. In the Extras menu, you’ll see the Notes option. That's were you can view text files that have been placed on the iPod. Learn how to copy notes to iPod along with the limitations and workarounds.

Listen to all 7 minutes of Episode #6 for how-to and a few valuable tips. Also, check out learninginhand's iPod Notes page.

iPods Episode #5: Troubleshooting

The fifth episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast has been published. Episode #5: Troubleshooting gives advice on solving problems.

iPods are great little devices and almost all of the time, they work just fine. However, use an iPod long enough, and you’re bound to have a problem or two. After checking to make sure the Hold switch is in the off position and the battery has a charge, it’s time for the Five Rs of iPod troubleshooting: reset, retry, restart, reinstall, and restore.

Listen to all 8 minutes 20 seconds of Episode #5 for several iPod troubleshooting tips. Also, check out learninginhand's iPod Troubleshooting page.

iPods Episode #4: iPod shuffle Tips

The fourth episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast is online. Episode #4: iPod shuffle Tips is full of worthwhile advice for using Apple's $79 audio player.

Despite its lack of display screen, iPod shuffle can be more useful than you might think. The iPod shuffle's 1 GB of memory can store more than 12 hours of audio (240 songs), which means the battery will need to be recharged before the shuffle has played all of its audio. In classrooms where a computer for syncing new content is usually available, 12 hours of audio is not really all that limiting.

Listen to all 11 minutes 37 seconds of Episode #4 to learn about using the power of Smart Playlists to automatically sync podcasts and music to iPod shuffles. You will probably want to view these instructions.

And as a special request: If you enjoy this podcast, please click here and leave a rating and comment in iTunes. Thank you!

iPods Episode #3: Main Menu

The third episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast is online. Episode #3: Main Menu is all about customizing what appears in an iPod's Main menu.

If you're an avid iPod user, you've scrolled through your share of layers of menus. Of course, the first menu you start with is the Main menu. From there you can access music, videos, photos, and settings. But did you know you can customize the items listed in the main menu? I always add Playlists and Podcasts to the menu for quick access.

Customizing the Main menu items can save you time scrolling to your most-used iPod items. Also, if you're managing a set of iPods for student use, it's nice to place the items students will use in the Main menu so they can easily find what they are supposed to be doing on the iPod.

Listen to all 5 minutes 6 seconds of Episode #3 to learn how to change what's listed on your iPod's Main menu.

iPods Episode #2: Downloading Videos

The second episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast has been posted. Episode #2: Downloading Videos is all about getting videos from websites to play on iPods.

Full sized iPods can play movies and videos! If you aren't sure if your iPod can play videos, simply turn on your iPod and go to the Main menu. If Video is listed, probably just below Music and Photos, then your iPod is video-capable. Currently, iPod nanos cannot play video. Their screens are so tiny, it probably wouldn't be enjoyable. And, of course, iPod shuffles don't have screens—not very conducive to viewing video.

You probably know that the iTunes Store would love to sell you music videos, television, shows, and full-length movies for between $1.99 and $14.99. But those are certainly not the only videos you can download, sync to, and play on an iPod. There are free video podcasts available from the iTunes Store as well, but we're not going to cover those in this episode.

We're going to talk about videos that you might already have on your computer that you'd love to put on an iPod for student-viewing. Additionally, you might have several favorites tagged in United Streaming, YouTube, or TeacherTube. Let me tell you about getting these videos ready for viewing on a video-capable iPod.

You need to know that iPods will only play videos that are in the MPEG-4. That means the video will end with the extension .mp4. In fact, iPods are somewhat picky in what kinds of MPEG-4 videos they will play. I'll share ways to get your videos into the iPod specific format. But please don't think that just by renaming a video with the ending .mp4 that that magically turns the video into the right format. Videos have to be transcoded from their original format, which might be .mov, .mpeg, .avi, to MPEG-4. Transcoding takes a lot of processing power, so when a video is being converted, you'll have to wait a while. Listen to all 11 minutes 45 seconds of Episode #2 to learn more. You can read more about videos and iPods here.

New Podcast About iPods in Education

Want to learn more about that iPod you carry around? Want to know how iPods can be used for teaching and learning? Then subscribe to my newest podcast, Learning in Hand: iPods. The podcast features short episodes to help teachers use iPods. Topics to be covered include: downloading video, viewing slide shows, iQuiz, voice recorders, podcasting, classroom management, and more. Hard Disk Mode is Episode #1 of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast.

Full sized iPods have huge hard drives. Current iPods have hard drives that are between 30 and 80 gigabytes in size; that might be more capacity than the hard drive in your laptop! That's enough space to store over 50 days of audio or 100 hours (4 days) of video. Chances are your collection in iTunes that you sync to your iPod is not nearly that large, leaving you with gobs of unused disk space. You can put extra space on any iPod to good use by enabling disk use. Using your iPod for portable data storage is perfect for accessing files between school and home computers. And it's always a good idea to make extra copies of those documents you've spent hours and hours on. Listen to all 5 minutes 45 seconds of Episode #1 to learn more (and you can look forward to many more episodes of Learning in Hand: iPods).